Utah Travel Headlines

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

New Dinosaur Species With Huge Nose Discovered In Utah

Add one more species of dinosaur to the
growing list of ancient beasts that inhabited Utah. Paleontologists
from Brigham Young
University and North Carolina State University recently
identified fossils from a strange creature that has been named
Rhinorex condrupus, which directly translates to “King Nose.”

Many news outlets around the country
are reporting on the find. This
report from KSL.com has good detail. Below are excerpts.

“This dinosaur
has huge nostrils,” said Rodney Scheetz, curator of BYU’s Museum
of Paleontology, according to the news release. “The skull has huge
narial openings, but we can only guess what the soft tissue looked
like.

The Rhinorex
condrupus was estimated to be 30 feet long and 8,500 pounds. It
dwelled in swampy areas and was a herbivore, according to the BYU
news release.

BYU
paleontologists unearthed the dinosaur at Neslen Formation above the
slopes of the Book Cliffs in eastern Utah.